City Council members unanimously approved a tax break for a local plastics firm after a two-week delay caused by questions of whether it lived up to promises made to get previous tax breaks.
Calico Precision Molding is considering a $543,500 investment in new equipment and asked the city for an abatement on the property taxes. The company says the investment will allow it to expand its operations and create 15 new jobs with a total new payroll of $377,800.
But the firm at 1211 Progress Road was given a tax break in 2008, when it had 46 employees and expected to add 20 more. With the recession, it pared back to 30 employees in 2010. Company officials said it now has 35 workers and is trying to fill two empty spots.
Tom Lewandowski, president of the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, attacked the tax abatement request, saying the company has not lived up to its past promises when granted government help, and noted that one of the owners of the company is Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters, although he has no role in the council’s approval of the tax break.
Tuesday, after asking a few questions of economic development staff and hearing that the previous job cuts were due to factors outside the company’s control, council members voted unanimously to approve the tax reduction.
With the tax break, the company will save $38,156 in property taxes over a decade. In that same 10 years, it would pay $27,866 in additional property taxes on the new investment.
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http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120829/LOCAL/308299978/0/SEARCH
A more detailed story on this issue can be found here:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120829/LOCAL/308299978/0/SEARCH
